Fluid-clutch.



A. H. SHOEMAKER.

FLUID CLUTCH.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 12, 1911.

1 ,084340. 4 Patented Aug. 6, 1912 2 SHBETS-SHEET l.

A. H. SHUEMAKER.

' FLUID CLUTCH.

APPLIGATION FILED DEG. 12, 1911. 1,034,740. Patented Aug. 6, 1912.

` 2 SHBETS-SHEBT z.

tren STATES ALVIN' H. SHOEMAKER, 0F PORTLAND, ORE

CLEVELAND .AND E. A. TYROLL PORTLAND, OREGQN.

Q10/all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALVIN H. SHOE- MAnnma citizen of the United Stat-es, resid ing at Portland, in the countyv of Multnomah Aand State of Oregon, have invented certain new and ,useful Improvements in Fluid-Clutches, of which the following is a specication. i y

My invention relates to means for operatively connecting theengine of a selfpropelled 'vehicle With the running gear of the vehicle, and is an improvement upon' a device, for which I applied for Letters Patent on Septenber 11th, 1911, Serial No. 648,811. Y

.The device I am about to describe shows the genera-l features set forth in said earlier application, the engine ily-Wheel, rigidly mounted on thel engine shaft, being cupz shaped and supporting a plurality of air cyl inders, the pistons of which operatively connect with a crank-pin vof the vehicle drive shaft. i l

vThe object ofthe present invention is to connect the air chambers of said cylinders Withau centrally located distributing device,

' by means of which the air-pressure in the several cylinders may be governed at will, thereby varying the speed of the vehicle to suit operating conditions.

The objects and advantages Yof my invenu tion are readily comprehended by reading the following description in connection with the appended drawings, in which: l

Figure 1 is a-rear elevation of an engine` ily-Wheel embodying my invention, Fig. 2v is 'a corresponding plan view 'of the device partly in section, Fig. 3 is a4 sectionalrear elevation, on 'an enlarged scale, "of thel dis- .tributer of my device and is taken substan .Afof Fig. 1, Fig. 4 1s a tially on line front elevation of the ily-Wheel, and Fig. l5 is a' detail'view ofsome ofv the distributor parts showncent'rally located. in Fig. 1.

Fly-Wheel ais fixed on engine shaft b and a; rotatably hung eh the end of crank-` bly mounted in a sleeve j, which in turn'is vmounted to rotate 'Lan-*1mmular'fcasingk,

and" thev latter is,

Specication of Letters Patent. Y Application filed December 12, 1911.

i 'neously Withthevalvedislz' 'perforation p2 andr into cylinder d'2, the' Gon, AssIGNoR" or' 'rWo-TIRDS VVTo ALBERT AND ONE-THIRD Tozr. W. HURLELALL or FLUID-CLUTCH.

raeeneeun 1g. e, 1ere seriall 1re-665,393.

fixed on the interior Well ofthe.- fly-wheel. Disk z' and sleeve j are in any-,suitable inanner, as by their beveled -edges -Z,.retained in alinement, and the sleeve Vis provided .with a. cover plate m,.vvhicl1 retains said sleeve in tiff a fixed position relativetto thyev-iiyvvheel by means of suitable mechanism and for the purpose to be hereinafter described. From the outer end of the airV cylinders extend. tubes n, which .terminate in perforations a. of casing 7a. PerforatiensL-f. o arezfequiw distently spaced, and "las I= show four cylinders, the perforations areexactly ,90 degrees apart. It is immaterial how the crank-pin g and disk are .connecte-d,- so long as they are rigidly combined to vactes a unit. The connecting means shown in the drawings, as best shown in Fig.- 5, comprises an arm g1, rigidly fixedonvthe end lof crankpin g by a tapered pin 92Saidern1isbyscrews g3 rigidly secured'to the. face .of d-isl Vz'. Itis noticed that thefeover'plate,m` of sleeve j is perforated, and that. said diskprojects through said perforation.

Sleeve y' is made with .perforations p, all ofthe seine length and vequal inslengthto the intermediate portions gri., Dislrfz'is pro vided with en einpassage-Qcomprising.,two branches fr, s, which 'diverge rdially from Q thecenter of the-disk at an angle ofll deif? grecs to each other. y Y. l Y

The mechanism' thus' far, described, as con-v tained within casing y7c ist-he distributer of my device. By eonipstring`l`ig'g.lL Withlig. 3, it is seen that air-passager is'positioned A90 parallel with and diemetrieally, opposite crank pin g, and that pistonrod )i` hasf forced its piston tothe outer'endof cylinderd. The flywheel rotates inv-.the Idirection of arrow t, While valve-disk due tothe'resistu ance oifered by the vehicle Wheels," tends to; remain stationary, or in order tosirnplify this description vit may be said,` that .the valve-disk` rotates fi y the opposite direction relative"` 'to thek fly-Wheel. Vv) The air in ,cylinf der dlyfis" becoming comprsed,4 and this compressed air is forcedv into f perforation pli ,Vhenfthe` air in cylinder approaches itshighest point of compression, simultal reaching the p05 sition shown iin dotted outlinein Fig. 3,@ quantitylofiairlrushes -through passage 2" s v relieving'the pressure in cyinder 51,

2 1,os4,74o

piston of the latter passes the dead-point. This erformance is repeated fromA cylinder to cylinder as'the fly-wheel rotates. As the piston in cylinder all nowmoves toward the mouth of the cylinder an air expansion gradually takes place, Whiclrhoivever is relieved as soon as the valve-disk reaches the position indicated by reference letters r1, s1,

when air is drawn from cylinder cl3, Whichat this time is in a state of partial compresslon. i

Sleeve y' and coverlate m, as above stated, are rigidly com ined, if therefore said cover-plate is turned in the direction opposite to arrow t perforations 0 may be entirely closed, so that no air can escape from cylinder to cylinder, and the fly-Wheel in that case positively rotates drive shaft f. But by advancing the sleeve' to and beyond the position shown inthe drawing, the pressure in the cylinders is relieved at a correspondingly adf'anced moment, until the point isreached where practically no compression takes place, and the engine runs free.

Each cylinder is preferably made Withan air-vent 5, so positioned relative to the piston of the cylinders that'a-ir is free to enter a cylinder, when the piston reaches the limit of its 'expansion stroke; and this air, in relieving the expansion at this moment, not

only aids in'producinflr a smooth running device, but4 also, by admitting .surplus air, adds to the density of the air in the cylinders, thus increasing the eiiiciency of my device.

Any suitable means may be employed to oscillate sleeve y', and the mechanism I illustrate is merely embodied in order 'to present a complete operative device.

On the interior Wall of the fly-wheel are.

cut recesses u, 4and in these I journal a pair of bell-cranks o, fw, the outer ends ...fr of which extend through perforations y of cover-plate m, while their inner ends 2 are perforated to receive rods 2. The latter are slidably mounted in and `evtend through the wall of the fly-Wheel. The outer ends of said rods are fixed on an annular shoe 3,

' loosely hung in a groove of. a sleeve 4. 'It

is noticed that said bell-cranks are disposed in opposite directions, when therefore sleeve 4: is caused toslide longitudinally on shaft b, the bell-cranks, through the medium of their outervends cause plate m and -sleeve y' to oscillate for the purpose mentioned.

From the foregoing description it is clear, that my aim is: to provide means for distributing the air in the several cylinders, and also t-o provide means for timing said air distribution, in order that the amount of air pressure may be lgoverned at WilLand the speed of the vehicle thereby controlled.

Anyone versed in the art will understand, that various results may be obtained by varying the angular relation between branches r, s of the air passage in valve disk z'. By

varying the length of perforationsfp, 271,172

.and psof sleeve 7' I can also arrivejat different results'. The relativeproportions illustrated and described have beenfound most satisfactory in actual practice, but I Wish it understood, that I may'change these proportions along the lines suggested, without thereby departing from the principle o'f my invention. Y

I claim:

1. In a device of the character described,-

thecombination with an engine shaft, a'iiy- Wheel and a vehicle drive shaft; hof a sries of radially disposed air cylinde s integral with said fly-wheel; a series of pistons, said pistons' operatively connected with a crank' of said vehicle drive shaft; a centrally 1ocated -air distributer; air-tubes. leadingfrom the outer end of said cylinders to perforations of said distributer; said distributor provided with a rotatably mounted valve- -di\sk, said valve-disk rigidly connected with .said vehicle drive shaft and provided with an air-passage by means of which air is distributed to the several cylinders; and manually operated means for timing said distributer.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with 'an engine shaft and a vehicle drive shaft in continued alinement with said engine shaft; cfa series ofradially disposed air-cylinders driven byl said shaft; ya series of pistons, said pistons -operatively connected with a crank of said vehicle drive shaft; a centrally located distributer; air-tubes leading from the outer end of the cylinders to perforations of the distributer; said distributor provided with a valve-disk rotatably mounted in the dis.

tributer, said valve-disk rigidly.. connected with said vehicle drive shaft and provided with means for vdistributing the air in the several cylinders; and manually operated m'eans for timing said distributer.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with an engine shaft, a flylwheel and a vehicle drive shaft in continued cylinders: and manually operated means for v timing said distributer.

4. In a device of the character described,

-tubes leading-.from the outer end of said cylinders toperforat-ions ofsaid distributer; said distributer vcomprising an annular `casing driven by the engine shaft, an annular ,sleeve rotatably mounted in said casing, said sleeve provided with ports adapted toregister with 'perforations of Said casing, and a valve l-disk rotatably mounted in said sleeve, said valve disk rigidly connected Wit-l1 the vehicle drive shaft and provided 'with an airpassage by means of which the air is distributed in thesevera-l cylinders; and meansv for; oscillating said lsleevev relative to said casing for the purpose of timing the air dis.-

Vltribution 5. In adevlce of the character described,

the combination Witban engine shaft and a vehicle drive shaft in continued alineinent with said engine shaft; oit a series of radi-- ally disposed air cylinders driven by said engine shaft; a series of'pistons operatively connected With a crank of said vehicle drive shaft; a centrally located air-.dist-ributer;

air-tubes leading from the outer end 'of said air-cylinders 'to perforations Vof said dis-A tributer'; said distributer provided with a;

valveV disk rotatably mounted in the distrbuter, said valve disk rigidly connected Wit-l1 said vehicle drive shaft 'and provided with means for distributing the air in the several cylinders; manually operated means 'for timing said distributer; and ana1r-vent lin each cylinder adapted to relieve the par- 40 tial vacuum when a piston reaches the mouth ofV a cylinder. ALVIN H. SHOEMAKER. VIVitnesses;

IRENE MOORE, C. HILLS. 

